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The Indian subcontinent consists
of a number of separate linguistic communities each of which share
a common language and culture. The people of India speak many
languages and dialects, which are mostly varieties of about 15
principal languages.
Some Indian languages have a long literary history--Sanskrit literature
is more than 5,000 years old and Tamil 3,000. India also has some
languages that do not have written forms. There are 18 officially
recognized languages in India Assamese, Bengali Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Malayalam
Manipuri
Marathi
Nepali
Oriya
Punjabi
Sanskrit
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu
and each has produced a literature of great vitality and richness.
Languages
spoken in different states of India :
National
language - Hindi
Business language - English
Official language - Hindi & English
State Language
Spoken
| State |
Language
Spoken |
| Andaman
& Nicobar Islands |
Andamanese |
| Andhra
Pradesh |
Telugu,
Hyderabad city - Telugu plus Urdu |
| Assam
|
Assamese,
others |
| Bihar
|
Hindi,
Bhojpuri, Maithini, Santhali, Angika, numerous others, Bengali,
Pred. Muslim - Urdu |
| Delhi
|
Hindi,
English & numerous others |
| Gujarat
|
Gujarati |
| Goa |
Konkani |
| Haryana
|
Hindi,
Haryanvi |
| Himanchal
Pradesh |
Hindi,
Pahadi |
| Jammu
& Kashmir |
Dogri,
Kashmiri, Ladakhi, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Baltistani, Dardi |
| Karnataka
|
Kannad |
| Kerala
|
Malayalam |
| Madhya
Pradesh |
Hindi,
numerous others, Muslim - Urdu |
| Maharashtra
|
Hindi
and Marathi |
| Meghalaya
|
Garo,
Khasi |
| Mizoram
|
Mizo |
| Nagaland
|
Naga |
| Orissa
|
Oriya |
| Punjab
|
Punjabi,
Hindi and Urdu |
| Rajasthan
|
Hindi,
Rajasthani, Marwadi and urdu |
| Sikkim
|
Nepali,
Lepcha, Bhutia |
| Tamil
Nadu |
Tamil |
| Tripura
|
Tripuri,
Bengali, Kuki |
| Uttar
Pradesh |
Hindi,
Brijbhasha, Pahadi, Avadhi, Bhojpuri,Urdu and numerous others. |
| West
Bengal |
Bengali |
Other languages - Sindhi,
Sanskrit
Vedic language - Sanskrit
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